• We had 20 members on board for Thursday’s confab. With at least one new video participant. Prez Chris was live from the East Alton Village Hall in order to add  a bit of gravitas to the event.
• Opening duties were harmoniously provided by LoriP, MarkS and RodneyD. Thanks to BradP for providing a 4-way backdrop.
• Please take a few minutes to visit our ClubRunner web site riverbendeastrotary.org and review/update your personal information. If you help with member access please let RickH know via riki917@yahoo.com or 618.792.0256.if you would like a PDF version of our membership roster, let  Rick know.It will be sent as an attachment file.
• Let’s take a moment to honor long time Rotarian Dick Thompson. He passed away on December 22nd after a lengthy battle with Covid-19. Dick was an East Alton club member for 41 years, served as club President in1981 and was named a Paul Harris Fellow on 1997. He also served the community in a variety of volunteer capacities. Our condolences to his wife of 55 years, Carole, and the entire Thompson family. Dick was a great guy and his dry wit will be missed. Dick was the only member in club history to have a choice of exactly TWO cards to pull the joker and win a large jackpot. He chose the non-joker, the jackpot rolled, we fondly remember.
• MarkA joined our meeting while on the road to ??
• As you can see on our masthead above, we need a name for our newsletter. The “Rotary Make-Up” and “Rotary Banner”  titles have served us well for many decades. It’s time to put those to rest and chose a new name that will serve our club for the next few decades. Any suggestions? Send them to RickH. At some point in the future he will compile a short list of names and everyone will have the opportunity to cast a vote. Start thinking creatively
• Did you know that in 1997 the Wood River club sold 575 cases of fruit during the holiday fund raiser? That was the report provided by long time fruit monger Max Emery. That’s a lot of Florida sunshine! The East Alton club could count on an early December visit from Dick Bell soliciting orders for the tasty orbs.
• A shout out to TyB for receiving the Community Champion Award. There was a nice article about him in the most  recent Alton Memorial in-home flyer.
• We have established a Venmo account to accept payments. Add it to your contacts @RiverbendEast-RotaryClub. It may come in handy for fine remittance.
• CherylM was unable to Zoom in on Thursday and sent regrets.
• The following members were spied attending last weekend’s District Conference: RobinK, LoriP, MarkA, DaveA and LeonardB. Jennifer Stotts made a great presentation about membership on Saturday AM about Rotary “happy culture”. A couple of takeaways from her presentation-new members don’t just show up at your door, you must ask them to join. Member stay because of the service you do and the friends they meet. An FYi- District 6460 leadership member Cathy Jo Littleton-Wahl is the daughter of long time East Alton member Marvin “Red” Littleton, a Rotarian through and through.
• Congrats to LauraW on her first anniversary of club membership. such a year!
• DaveA's sound check was A-OK.
• If you are scheduling a speaker for a zoom meeting please request that they join us at noon for their presentation. They will have the first 20 minutes, or so, of our meeting. Please provide their name and presentation topic to LoriP for listing on our web site.
• BillP has us on Grandpa Gang waiting list for an additional Wonderland date in December. 
• RickH is now in the process of scanning and archiving the “Make-Up” newsletters from 1986 to 2020. Issues through the late 90’s are now available for viewing. They can be accessed via the “documents” link on our web site.  A mighty big thanks goes out to long-time newsletter "Make-Up" editor FrankA for passing along these docs to LindseyH for safekeeping. If you have earlier Make-Up issues or other documents from the former Wood River club that are worth saving/sharing let Rick know. The first file issue was dated July 7, 1986. Under the headline of “The Newsletter is Back” Editor Carl Timmons congratulated new club President Claud Snowden. He also included an article referencing the California Court of Appeals decision that prohibited Rotary from excluding women from membership. Smart move! Candy Mark was the first female in the East Alton club. Who was the first female Wood River Rotarian? Was it Donna Moggio, Beth Mattson or Stacy Hendricks?? 
• There’s a new yoga studio opening in Eastgate Plaza. Rotary and yoga, that’s not a stretch!
• Rhonda is developing a way to use our Facebook page to auction off our gift cards and baskets in conjunction with our music trivia event in March.  Don’t forget that DJBigPapaG (find him on Facebook with that handle) provides free music bingo opportunities every Wednesday evening @ 6. Join him so that you can tell folks how our event will roll. You can play using either Facebook or Zoom. BradP won a round this past Wednesday. Beginners luck he offered?
• Music Trivia round sponsorship are now available-$100 for a full one, $50 for a shared one. Questions? RhondaB or JeanK have the answers.
• The Queen of Aces jackpot is now @ $14 after 16 cards were drawn on Thursday, 24 cards remain. Will there be a winner this week? Will it be you??  If there is no winner the jackpot will roll into a fresh deck.
• There was a nice article in the Riverbender about JohnP’s pending retirement as EAWR HS Super after a 21 year run. It included a shout out to the board members he has served with, including JoeP.
• DonnaK, Prez Chris and AlexS will meet soon to review and transfer our scholarship program documentation.
• LeonardB shared that one of the Illinois State agencies is offering grants to non-profits.
• Zoom weekly meeting link-https://us02web.zoom.us/j/465333257